Friday, April 22, 2011

Marbelized Eggs

So we did indeed make marbelized eggs, and it was more kid-friendly than the robin's eggs.  Easier, and fewer steps.  The only difficult part was using blown eggs, but with a little experience I took care of that step before I told the kids about the project. 
Then we had fun making dye with food coloring, water and vinegar--they loved stirring in the drops and watching it change color.  The first step was to lightly dye all the eggs.  That was very hands on, because blown eggs float, so we gently spun them on top of the liquid (and yes, I was as surprised as they were, although I did realize that I should have expected that). 
Next we added concentrated the dyes by adding a lot more food coloring--also fun to stir.  Finally, we added a tablespoon of olive oil, and tried the first egg.
 

It worked!  They had lots of fun swirling the eggs, and watching the unique patterns that were created.  Choosing contrasting colors was also fun and educational.


 Caroline is my tactile girl, and she especially loved getting her hands dirty turning over the eggs.
 The finished product was colorful and should be very decorative on our Easter table.  We haven't even broken any yet, and it's two days later already.  We've all had fun turning them over to see the swirls, and both kids have chosen their favorites.  It's fun to have kids old enough to do these projects!

2 comments:

katie said...

Wow, crafty Mama! I'm so impressed by all the Easter crafting you have all been doing! So creative. We dyed eggs, with the kit from the store, and that was it. And this Mama forgot to have white eggs on hand, so ours were not the most beautiful of colors. Oh well. Maybe next year we'll try some of your fun ideas.

sarah marie said...

Such a good idea - your eggs turned out beautifully. I did that as a kid but had forgotten all about it. I'll have to try to remember for next year's egg dying!